Previously Published

The Ministry of Prophets and Apostles Today

Full-time missionaries should master three basic skills, President Thomas S. Monson says: (1) prepare with purpose, (2) teach with testimony, and (3) labor with love. “Young men, you are preparing for your missions when you learn your duties as deacons, teachers, and priests and then perform those duties with determination and love, knowing you are on the Lord’s errand,” he says. He also offers counsel for sisters and couples.

Prophets and apostles bear witness that Jesus is the Christ and that as Latter-day Saints, it is our duty to learn of Him, follow Him, and keep His commandments. Our testimony, like that of Joseph Smith, is that He lives. Every Latter-day Saint should be a devout disciple of the Son of God.

If a husband will put his wife’s needs above his own, his love for her will increase. That’s the counsel given by President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presdency, who repeats a three-word teaching often given to husbands by prophets and apostles: “Love your wife.”

Education is an eternal principle. In fact, “for members of the Church, education is not merely a good idea—it’s a commandment,” says President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Members are counseled in the scriptures to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

“To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves,” President Thomas S. Monson teaches. “No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty, the fulfillment of which brings true joy.”

Prophets and apostles teach that survival in the world today depends on the ability to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Those who trust in the Lord and are guided by inspiration will find solutions that are urgently required.

Though life can have many challenges, President Thomas S. Monson says that with faith we can rise above them. “My beloved brothers and sisters,” he says, “fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.”